Dedicated to the Intellectual Brutality of Stanford Football

Big Game

11/18/2016

When I think about Big Game, countless memories rush back from over the course of my thirty seasons watching Stanford football. There are the obvious ones, ranging from the John Hopkins field goal to clinch the miracle comeback in 1990 to Ty Montgomery's five-touchdown first half in 2013, but the game I've been thinking about the most is probably a loss.

In 2009, the first year that Stanford was consistently competitive under third-year coach Jim Harbaugh, the Cardinal entered Big Game with a 7-3 record and thoughts of reclaiming the Axe. Andrew Luck was in his first season, and although he certainly showed flashes of brilliance and gave hints of what was to come, that year's team revolved around Toby Gerhart and his Hesiman-runner-up season. Gerhart had a typical game against Cal, rushing for 136 yards and four touchdowns, but Luck had probably the worst game of his Stanford career, finishing 10 of 30 for just 157 yards and an interception that ended any hopes of a Cardinal win. Trailing by six in the final minutes of the game, Luck engineered a drive that looked like it would end with Stanford players hoisting the Axe in triumph. He scrambled to pick up one key first down, then from midfield he checked down to his third or fourth receiver and found Gerhart in the flat for what should've been a five-yard gain. Instead, Gerhart ran through four different Cal defenders and rumbled -- I think Gerhart probably even rumbled from class to class that year -- for a 29-yard gain to the Cal 13.

Listening to the radio feed at the time, I was certain of three things -- Gerhart would eventually get the ball and carry it the rest of the way for the touchdown, Stanford would win the Axe, and Heisman voters around the country would have no choice but to cast their votes for the man who had scored five touchdowns in his rivalry game. (I was young and naïve back then.) But he wouldn't touch the ball again. Two plays after Gerhart's long catch and run, Luck dropped back and threw one of the worst interceptions I can remember him throwing, and the game was over. No touchdown, no Axe, no Heisman.

11/22/2015

It might not have been the game most anticipated, but it ended the way almost everyone expected, with Stanford players carrying the Axe off the field in celebration for the sixth year in a row. As David Shaw said afterwards, "There's no one in the program who's lost the Axe."

11/20/2015

I know the exact moment when I finally understood the true meaning of Big Game. In 1990, the fall of my senior year, Stanford and Cal played what anyone on the Cardinal side of the rivalry will tell you is still the greatest contest in the history of Big Game. What happened on the field that afternoon and evening has transcended football and become legend -- Glyn Milburn's school record 379 all-purpose yards, Ed McCaffrey's last minute touchdown, the failed two-point conversion which led to Cal's premature rushing of the field, the recovered on-side kick, and finally the John Hopkins field goal which won the game and triggered a more appropriate rushing of the field. (If you haven't watched that ending recently, go here now.) As great as all that was -- and it was really, really great -- none of that did it for me.

After running around the field like a crazy person for a while and eventually finding my way to the Axe, I was actually able to touch it. I still remember how the cold steel of the Axe felt against my outstretched fingertips, a thrill which stays with me twenty-five years later. But even that wasn't it.

As the chaos wound down, I returned to the stands to reconnect with my friends. The first person I found was Jack, and for some reason we decided it would be fun to celebrate the victory by climbing the poles used to hoist the net up behind the goalposts during field goal attempts. I ran to one, and Jack to the other; we'd race to the top. Ten feet up the poll I decided I could go a lot faster if I used the rope to help pull myself up, but the rope wasn't meant to hold my 180 pounds. It snapped immediately, and I plummeted downwards and landed flat on my back, fracturing the tip of my elbow and knocking the wind out of me. I couldn't breathe for thirty seconds or so, but it didn't really matter. We had the Axe. That was the moment.

11/24/2014

The more things change, the more they remain the same. It was that moment when your fourteen-year-old younger brother gets tired of flexing his young muscles in front of the bedroom mirror and decides it's time to challenge you, time to end the wedgies and the charlie horses, time to take the last slice of pizza in the box for once and hold the remote control, time to walk through the house with pride instead of apprehension. He's had enough. He walks out into the front yard, and right in front of God, your girlfriend, and the rest of the neighborhood, he challenges you to a fight. He challenges the natural order of things. But of course, we know how it turns out.

And so it was on Saturday afternoon in Berkeley. Younger brother Cal had scrapped its way to a 5-5 record on the season and had designs on doing the unthinkable. They sought the Axe; they were denied.

11/21/2014

In a world of uncertainty and chaos, ebola and global warming, terrorist threats and the impending zombie apocalypse, it's nice to have a few things to count on -- a golden orange sun rising through the mist in the East and warming your cheeks with its first morning rays, the loving look of your child as you tuck her into bed at the end of that day, and, more than anything else, the peaceful security of sleeping with a sharp-bladed Axe under your pillow, tangible evidence of a job well done.

11/23/2013

I posted this video last year, and I'll continue posting it every year as we ready for Big Game, because it's my duty. Somewhere out there, there might be a young Stanford fan who doesn't know the story of Big Game 1990. Nothing I write here could ever do justice to what it was like to be in the stadium that night (I tried a few years ago, read for yourself), and not even the video can quite capture it. You can't quantify a miracle; you can't digitize magic.

So if you've never seen it before, watch it now.

If you've seen it a million times, watch it now.

If you were there that night, watch it now.

If your name is John Hopkins and you split the uprights that night, thank you. Watch it now.

Please, watch it now. (Oh, and watch for quick glimpses of New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and a quick shot of David Shaw.)

In a season marked by questions, inconsistency, and trepidation, the Cardinal discovered on Saturday afternoon in Berkeley that they still own the Golden Bears. This year's win should come as no surprise. Even considering a 7-1 advantage for Cal from 2002 to '09, Stanford has still thoroughly dominated this series over the past 52 years. Starting with a 20-7 win in 1962, Stanford holds a 32-19-1 record in Big Games over those five decades and change, and nothing we saw on Saturday indicated that any of that might change in the near or distant future.

10/19/2012

A year ago the Pac-12 Network seemed like a dream come true. Conference comissioner Larry Scott promised that every Pac-12 football and basketball game would be broadcast nationwide, and he delivered a contract that would funnel a quarter billion dollars to the conference's member schools each year.

The reality has been different. The Pac12-DirecTV impasse means that hundreds of thousands of Stanford fans -- myself included -- don't get to watch every game, and Big Game has inexplicably been moved to the middle of October. It is what it is.

This edition of Big Game probably comes at the perfect time for the Cardinal. After the disappointment of the Robbery at South Bend, there would normally be worries about an emotional hangover, so it's fortunate that the team has had the Axe to think about all week as they prepared to travel across the Bay to play the Cal Bears.

The Bears have had an up and down season, losing their season opener in disappointing fashion to Nevada, narrowly missing a huge road upset at Ohio State, and then crushing UCLA at home more recently. Cal hasn't beaten Stanford since 2009, when this year's seniors were freshmen, so I'm guessing they'll be even more motivated than usual to beat the Cardinal and reclaim the Axe.

To learn some more about the Bears, how their season has gone, and what they anticipate for the future, I contacted the good folks over at California Golden Blogs, and three of their experts were happy to answer a few questions. (You can click here to check out my responses to their questions. For even more, you can also check out Pacific Takes, where I helped out with a midseason look at the Cardinal.) Enjoy...

10/18/2012

The greatest Big Game? It was the 1990 edition, and it isn't even close. I was in the stands that evening (I wrote about my experience on this site two years ago), but today I won't let my words get in the way. Just watch. A quick note: YouTube is being a bit glitchy, so it's forcing the video to start half way through. Just pull the slider back and you'll get the full eleven minutes. It'll be worth your time, I promise. And watch closely. Careful observers will spot a redshirting freshman named Shaw on the sidelines, as well as the future mayor of Newark, Cory Booker. Enjoy.

GMC Book Club

Over the past several years, GMC readers have donated a total of 402 books to my classroom! My students are always looking for new and exciting books, so if you'd like to contribute, simply click here! Or, click here to read my original post and find out more!